Stage Six: Greipel Honors Fallen Teammate with Two Sprint Victories

On the hottest day of the Tour, racing along the flat Rhône River Valley roads across Provence and the Camargue, with the Mistral trying to blow them off the bikes, the Lotto Belisol team carried André Greipel to two sprint victories in honor of their fallen GC chief, Jurgen van den Broeck.  VDB fell victim to the big crash in the final 3 Km of Stage 5.  He finished that stage, but could not start Stage 6 because of a knee injury suffered in the crash.  There go his Yellow Jersey hopes for the second time in four years!

Why is that bad for Mark Cavendish of Omega Pharma Quickstep?  Because Lotto will now concentrate all its energies on helping Greipel win sprints, stages and the Green Jersey, that’s why!  Need proof?  Greipel won both the intermediate sprint and the finishing sprint in today’s stage ending in Montpelier.  For frosting on the cake, he also won the day’s prize for most combative, and will wear a red number dossard tomorrow.  Cavendish was second in the sprint and fourth at the finish, losing 22 points to Greipel and 5 to Peter Sagan (Cannondale).  Cavendish’s low placement at the finish may be partly attributable to his crash earlier in the stage.  Bad luck!  Sagan is always disappointed when he doesn’t win a stage.  But, in the meantime, he continues to accumulate points.  He leads Greipel by 29, and Cavendish by 40 for the Green Jersey.

Tomorrow’s stage to Albi should be one last sprinters’ stage before the mountains.  But with two medium climbs before the intermediate sprint, Mark Cavendish risks being shut-out on those middle points. These two climbs might also entice a strong breakaway, which could erode the intermediate points and even threaten the stage finale.  Sagan is versatile enough to score points at both lines in this kind of stage, and maybe Greipel is too.  But Cavendish could well lose ground again tomorrow.

With the first 124 riders crossing the finish line in a bunch, and losing no more than 5" to the stage winner, this stage had little impact on the final GC standings.  But, by placing higher at the finish, Daryl Impey (Orica GreenEdge) did leap-frog his teammate Simon Gerrans for the glory of wearing the Yellow Jersey in tomorrow’s stage.  First time ever for a rider from South Africa!  Edvald Boasson Hagan also slipped in above Garrans for 2nd place.

In case you missed the tearful video replays, American Edward “Ted” King (Cannondale) missed the time delay by 7 seconds in the team time trial on Tuesday (Stage 4).  Because of injuries he suffered in a crash during Stage 1, he was unable to match the pace of his team, so he rode the entire course with no one to draft on.  He appealed his disqualification, but to no avail.  His parents came to France to watch him race, but ended up instead helping him pack up for home. The Tour de France can break your heart!

Today's stage crossed the Rhône River at Tarascon/Beaucaire, just a few miles south of this famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard . . .

. . . and just a few miles north of this ancient Roman amphitheater at Arles.

Then it continued west, passing just south of Nîmes, site of this well-preserved Roman arena . . .

. . . and continued across the Carmargue, a marshy nature preserve, home to flamingos, white horses, black bulls and the "Guardiens" (French cowboys) who ride the horses and raise the bulls.  This photo of the old "Winter Garden" in Arles shows the crest for the Camargue (below center) and the crest for Arles (top).  Sadly, when we went back to Arles in 2011, we found that the Winter Garden had been replaced by a car park.  That's progress for you!